TODD BOEHLY has hailed Chelsea’s academy as one of the best in the world – but namedropped two stars who did NOT graduate through the youth set-up.
The Blues’ academy at Cobham has a stellar reputation for producing top talents.
Chelsea first team regulars Reece James and Mason Mount, plus the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah have all progressed through the youth ranks.
While Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori and Marc Guehi have risen through the academy before moving away.
But American businessman Boehly got slightly ahead of himself when talking up the club’s youth resources.
The 48-year-old mistakenly claimed Mohamed Salah AND Kevin De Bruyne were Chelsea academy graduates.
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Both players did play for the Blues as youngsters, but Salah was signed from Swiss side FC Basel aged 22, while De Bruyne joined from Belgian outfit Genk when he was 20.
But bungling Boehly told SALT: “We have one of the best academies in the world.
“If you look at what our academy has developed, our academy is Mo Salah, Kevin De Bruyne. More recently Tammy Abraham, Reece James, Mason Mount, Trevoh Chalobah.
“We have 10 or 11 players right now that are either on loan and controlled by us, we have the right to buy them back, or they’re playing for our team or academy.”
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Boehly also spoke on how he plans to add value to Chelsea – by making the academy even more successful.
“You figure out how to make the academy, that is so top, to collaborate with the first team, you show players the pathway, you teach them about how you’re thinking about the future.”
“You treat players in the academy as academy products, not players. La Masia has done an amazing job.
“Chelsea is the biggest brand that one can own in sports worldwide.”
Another of Boehly’s ideas is a North vs South Premier League All-Star game.
He suggested: “Ultimately I hope the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports and really starts to figure out, ‘Why wouldn’t we do a tournament with the bottom four teams? Why isn’t there an all-star game?’
“People are talking about more money for the pyramid… the MLB all-star game in Los Angeles this year made $200m [£173m] from a Monday and Tuesday.
“You could do a North vs South all-star game in the Premier League and fund whatever the pyramid needed very easily.
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“Everyone likes the idea of more revenue for the league.
“There is a cultural aspect that is real and evolution will come. The nice thing about the Premier League is you own the worldwide rights.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
